How I Recovered From Depression

Depression affects more than 300 million people worldwide*.  The World Health Organization states, "Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease."*  Some stats report up to 15% of people will experience major depression (who know how many will have to deal with mild or moderate symptoms).**

But beyond statistics, it gets personal when it’s a dear friend, close family member, or even closer to home, yourself. I’ve certainly not come away unscathed. Several years back I was diagnosed with depression and given some antidepressants. But what really helped me to completely heal was an integrative approach. The program I went through was called the Depression Recovery Program by Dr. Neil Nedley.  This program has since been renamed The Depression and Anxiety Recovery program because it works for both. This integrative approach aims to eliminate or reduce the risk factors for depression as far as possible. Those risk factors according to Dr. Nedley's research include***:

• genetics
• certain events during upbringing
• nutrition (lack of certain nutrients or too much of others)
• certain lifestyle choices (such as not enough activity)
• frontal lobe function 
• toxins (certain heavy metals)
• social support
• addictions
• medical conditions such as diabetes
• interrupted circadian rhythm

Some of these you can’t do anything about now, such as your genetics or childhood development. (although you could make a difference in future generations). But the good news is Dr. Nedley found that you usually had to have four "hits" to get depression. That means even if you had the genetic marker and a rotten child hood you could still work on the other eight hit categories of risk factors to prevent or reverse depression. Note: there are several individual items within each of these risk factor categories, but he found that that did not increase your likelihood of having depression. Another words, if you had 2 addictions and 2 nutrition issues that wouldn’t necessarily give you depression.

This makes a lot of sense because when researchers try to isolate and study, say tryptophan, they find it has an impact on depression but not everyone with a tryptophan deficiency has depression.  Dr. Nedley's approach is a more accurate way to work toward healing depression because it's covering a multitude of risk factors. His 10 category "hit" model has been researched and given an 84% sensitivity rate (research speak for a form of accuracy).

And he has been very successful with using this category approach in practical programs. In one study, after only 8 weeks on the program (done by video, workbook, and small group classes once a week), 57.6% (2754 participants) did not qualify as depressed. Keep in mind, the whole program is 12 weeks, and many participants do not work the program but only watch the videos. I would love to see the numbers from this study on those who actually do the program. In my limited experience (and other director's I've been in contact with) it's been close to 99% for those that do the whole program, and this is substantiated by the 99% success rate of those that attend the live in program*****.  Anyway I don’t want this to be an advertisement, I just wanted to set the foundation for my experience and why I believe so strongly in an integrative approach.

Dr. David Burns, who uses cognitive behaviour therapy along with other powerful tools he has developed also has an incredibly far above average success rate.  I believe one of the reasons Dr. Burns model is so successful is because the power of the mind is incredible in healing the body. Also when doing this kind of cognitive behaviour therapy (more advanced than standard CBT) you really are working on several of the risk categories identified by Dr. Nedley such as social, lifestyle, frontal lobe, addiction, and even developmental, in as far as how you perceive its effects on you now.

Back to my story. I found the medication my doctor prescribed gave me the ability to complete Dr. Nedley's program, and work through the Feeling Good book, which shows medication can have a place in this process. To date, I haven’t needed medication since, and that was over 12 years ago.  Yes, part of Dr. Nedley’s program is using cognitive behavior therapy. In fact, in the original program that I took, we used Dr. Burns book "Feeling Good". That’s how I learned about Dr. Burns and eventually TEAM therapy.

But it wasn’t just me, it helped two of my friends and my husband, who took the program with me (we used the in home video program). All four of us recovered from depression within the 12 week program time frame. I went on to become a director and facilitator and found those who stuck with the program had a full recovery from depression. As a bonus we had participants also do better with their diabetes and heart disease. Their doctors even had to reduced their medications just 6 weeks in.

So, while integrative approach is a lot of work, it also improves other aspects of your life. Because you’re not just going to feel better emotionally but also physically. And this means you’re around longer to be with your kids and grandkids. You have more vitality and energy to do the things you would like to do as you age. And if you’re younger, you can help to avoid those top five fatal diseases in Western society that are often preventable****.

So whether you are interesting in learning more about the integrative approach or simply working on your thinking process and emotional health, I’m happy to help you either way. I don’t have a burden to pressure you with what helped me because we all are different and only you can choose what's right for you. I just wanted to share part of my story so you can see there is light at the end of the dark depression tunnel and I understand what it's like to be in that dark place where hope is bleak. Book a free 15 minute consultation with me to learn more how we can work toward a brighter future.

PS: If you are dealing with depression, whether or not you want to work with someone to get help, I encourage you to start with getting Dr. Burns book "Feeling Good", usually under $10, and found in almost any book store in North America or internationally on Amazon in several languages (I checked, it's available in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, China, France, Germany, and India just to name a few). 2/3 of patients on a waiting list for therapy found they had symptom improvement from depression just from reading this book.

PPS: If you’re feeling like life is not worth living and you’d rather not even be here please contact: 

Crisis Line for Canada toll free 24/7: 1-833-456-4566 Or chat or text www.crisisservicescanada.ca/

National Suicide Prevention Hotline for USA:  1-800-273-8255 OR you can chat with them and other resources online visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org

For International Crisis lines: thelifelinecanada.ca/help/crisis-centres/international-crisis-centres/

Sources:

* “Depression.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.

** Morin, Amy, and Lcsw. “How Many People Are Actually Affected by Depression Every Year?” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/depression-statistics-everyone-should-know-4159056.

*** Nedley, Neil, and Francisco E Ramirez. “Nedley Depression Hit Hypothesis: Identifying Depression and Its Causes.” American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, SAGE Publications, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5103329/.

**** “The Top 10 Deadliest Diseases in the World.” Healthline, Healthline Media, www.healthline.com/health/top-10-deadliest-diseases.

***** Carney, Linda, MD. "Nedley Depression Recovery Program" DrCarney.com Blog, June 2, 2016  https://www.drcarney.com/blog/entry/nedley-depression-recovery-program.

How to be miserable, stay grumpy, and suffer more.

OK have I got your attention? Sometimes we need to look at a problem from a completely new look. The title is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but what IF we were to explore a course that taught us how to suffer more and be grumpy. What would that look like?

Amendment: So I’ve had some really positive comments on this article in another forum. But I also had a really important constructive criticism so I'm adding 3 key points to remember as you read it. 
1. This article is intended for the reader themself, not to be used as a tool to criticize other people for being critical. 
2. There’s something called logic fallacies. One of those is when the opposite of a fact is also a fact. This is often not the case in reality. Example; Fact: carnivores have canine teeth. But the reverse is not true. Thus having canine teeth does not make something a carnivore. For example gorillas and camels among others, have canines and they are herbivores.

3, Just because something is a risk factor does NOT make it a cause. Example: "Moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to an approximate 30-50% increased risk in breast cancer."* But the alcohol does not cause breast cancer. Nor is it valid or helpful to blame women with breast cancer for drinking a glass of wine at their meal.

4. Poor health and disruption in happiness is not our fault because we are not "positive" enough.  There is an unfair system (sin) at place in our world, where often the person who is hurting has to do work to alleviate their own suffering even though it may not be their fault they are hurting in the first place.  Life can suck, but it doesn't have to stay that way.

5. My humorous look, intentionally overgeneralized, at some tools for cognitive behaviour therapy are not to be taken as rooted in some kind of all or nothing factual science. In fact doing so is a distortion in and of itself. My intention in this article is to look at oneself from a different perspective using humour, because humour can often be quite therapeutic when doing self reflection. We can be pretty hard on ourselves and I was hoping to alleviate some of that pressure by getting you to laugh at some of the mistakes that you might be making. But in no way would I want to shame anyone who is struggling with a critical attitude or denial or any of those things, in fact others may think you are being critical when you are just being honest.  That is there misunderstanding not a reflection on your character. I myself have struggled with many of the items in the follow list. I think that’s why I found it so relevant to me personally and why found so much humour in it.

  

The first step in being miserable would be to be, stay in denial. Why? Well, if you’re denying it you don’t have to deal with it. Denial a way of enabling you to continue to feel miserable when the event is already passed. You can deny that it’s over and relish in your depressed, angry, frustrated state. Next step, hold it all in. Certainly don’t share what you’re thinking and feeling with anyone else. After all they can’t help you. They’ll probably just say what you’re going through isn’t even relevant. At the very least, they’re going to minimize it and try, or worse yet try to fix it for you.

If you can’t hold it in, then complain. Complaining is a great way to stay grumpy. After all you’re just telling people the truth. I mean isn’t honesty the best policy? In fact, I highly recommend journaling. List all the problems you’re having and how miserable each one makes you feel. That way whenever you get a little too positive or happy, you can go back and rehash old grudges.

Mope. Moping lets the body know the correct position to be in when you’re feeling terrible. There’s nothing worse than a hypocrite, like someone smiling when they’re miserable inside. So it’s much better to mope because you’re being honest with the world around you.

Notice honesty has come up a few times. Being right is the best way to keep your relationships on the rocks and protect you from being vulnerable. After all when your always right it’s really hard for other people to live up to your expectations and that can increase your suffering tremendously.

Blame yourself and others. A good place to start is blaming others, that’s usually easier than blaming yourself. Well it does depend on your personality, and either one works pretty good. Blaming others takes all the responsibility off your shoulders, and since you’re not responsible you can’t fix it. Blaming others takes the pressure off you from having to make yourself miserable because people often hurt us and do us wrong.  Remember since you are right, they must be wrong. That’s just logical.

Of course if you have a hard time blaming others, then you can always turn to blaming yourself. This is also quite effective because it acknowledges the fact that you’re an idiot, a failure, and since you are those things there’s no point in trying to fix anything.  It’s just who you are and this will just continue to go on forever.

Minimize the positive. Those happy thoughts thinkers with all their foo foo fluff just don’t know reality. If you minimize positive things that you or others do, it helps put everything more in context of reality. It certainly won’t last. Nothing good lasts forever.

Accentuate the negative. You could even exaggerate a little bit.  I mean come on, realistically who doesn’t get that when you’re feeling miserable and grumpy, exaggeration is probably more truthful than saying it exactly the way it is. Here’s and example, I’ve got such a headache feel like my heads going to explode. I mean it’s not really going to explode, but you’ve got articulate it well so people get how you’re feeling.

Trust your emotions. Oh this is a good one. Your emotions are really going to tell you how you should be feeling and thinking. Just go with your gut, go with your heart, that’ll really stop all your positive thinking. I mean if you feel miserable you must be miserable. If you’re feeling lonely you must be alone.  You can’t trust that someone sitting beside you is really going to be there for you. I mean obviously they’re not doing enough to make you feel part of the group. Oh I guess I’m combining blame here. Well that’s great to show you can combine several of these to make them far more effective in staying miserable.

Remember, if it’s ever happened once, somewhere, to someone, it can happen to you. That’s right if it’s possible it’s probable. There’s at least one person out there who got run over by a truck while sitting in their living room. You should worry about that every time you sit down to enjoy watching some TV. I mean sure, they’d have to drive on the sidewalk, across the lawn, and through the house wall, but it’s possible right? And I mean if we’re going to be positive, we need to be positive that the possible can happen. That leads me to the next one.

If it’s happened before it’s going to happen again. If you found a hair in your food three times in a row, then you can certainly conclude every time you eat out there will be a hair in it. This is a good one to combine with our last one “if it’s possible it’s probable”. After all if bacteria can be on hair, and you found hair in your food three times, you better watch out for flesh eating bacteria in your burger. This tip can add much anxiety to your miserable grumpiness which is a bonus.

Label everything. Now I don’t mean with stickers. Of course you could do that which would take up time and anything that waste your time helps to make you miserable because you’ve wasted time. But what I’m talking here is labelling people or yourself. You see when you label something it really encapsulates what it is at its core. I mean someone didn’t just spilled the milk they are a slob. You didn’t just fail the one test, you are an absolute failure. See how much worse that sounds, there’s great material here for feeling miserable.

I think those tips should really help you to suffer and stay miserable. But if this course really wasn’t right for you then might I suggest the reverse of these? I also recommend reading Dr. David Burn’s best selling book, “Feeling Good” or listen to his podcasts. But I warn you that won’t do much to help you feel grumpy.

OR Get our NEW e-book "The Truth Shall Set You Free" - click here!

https://angelapoch.com/

* McDonald, Jasmine A, et al. “Alcohol Intake and Breast Cancer Risk: Weighing the Overall Evidence.” Current Breast Cancer Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Sept. 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3832299/.

Empathy is not responsibility.

Wow, I thought I'd take a month off to finish up my school and have a holiday before starting my private practice. That month turned into TWO and boy the time off felt so good!

As my peer world expands to include more and more counsellors, therapists, Pastor’s, teachers, and others in the helping profession, I think this topic is really relevant. Add to that those hundreds and thousands of people who are compassionate and empathetic, and there are a lot of us who have empathy, not only as a core value, but actually part of who we are.

Of course empathy and compassion are similar, but empathy goes deeper. Empathy is where you really put yourself in that person shoes, at least in terms of how they feel. Of course we can't put ourselves in someone else's shoes in terms of how they got there, their particular circumstances, because we're all so unique. We’ve all experienced anger, we’ve all experienced pain, we've all experience happiness and joy. But how we experience those emotions, the intensity of the emotion, and what leads to those will be different for each person. Example you’re sitting in an airplane beside someone who is terrified of flying.  Empathy doesn’t mean you have to be terrified of flying rather empathy gives you that awareness of what that person is going through emotionally and how hard it must be for that person sitting beside you.

When talking about empathy, it occurred to me maybe we should talk about what it is not. As just mentioned, empathy is not feeling exactly the same way about certain circumstance as another person would feel.  And empathy is also not taking on responsibility for the other person’s choices. I think this one really hit home for me as I was watching people struggling with weight loss. In a particular episode, I watched how hard the doctor tried to explain what was going on and the person was in complete denial about the circumstances. This person kept saying, "only I know it’s right for me," "the scale had to be wrong", "I can figure out how many calories are in something and I’m not eating that much."  This person just completely denied reality.  I thought to myself, wow how would I help that person if they came to me as a therapist? And I realized I couldn’t. As much is I could empathize with this person's pain (aches and pains are an ongoing battle for me too) and struggles (I've been wanting to loose weight for 2 years but I don't really try to lose the weight - desire doesn't equal trying, but that's another blog), empathy doesn’t give me the ability to change someone.

Empathy also doesn’t make me responsible for someone else or to force a person to change. Empathy opens up our heart to someone and then we have to move on from that at some point. Each individual person, as much as we influence each other, still has to make their own choices. No a matter how hard the circumstances, or what else is going on around us, we are still alone responsible to choose the path before us.

This means those of us with empathy really have to embrace the concept sitting with open hands. This concept by Dr. David Burns, is basically it’s offering someone a resource (friendship, tools, advice, help..... whatever.) and then you completely, 100%, accept their choice to take it or not.  I think this is super hard for those of us with a lot of empathy because we know their life could be so much better. It’s so hard, we can just feel it. We can feel where they’re at right now, we can feel where they could be at, and we just want it so bad for them.   

Here's the thing, your desire for them cannot turn into any kind of responsibility because it always comes down to free will and their choice.  This is so important for those who are dealing with friends, clients, and family that are struggling.  It is NOT your responsibility to make anyone change.  Not even your spouse or kids or clients.  Yes, you are responsible as far as you are able to influence, guide, and encourage, but it stops there.  You can't choose for them, therefore you are not responsible for their choice.

So next time you feel yourself so drained and arguing with someone, maybe pause and ask yourself: Is my empathy causing conflict because I feel responsible for this person and I wanna force them to make the better choice?

PS: You are always welcome to chat with me. I offer a free 15 minute consultation. 

 

The Most Important Benefit of Gratitude

I missed posting last week because I was at the 4-Day TEAM CBT Intensive in Whistler with Dr. David Burns.  It was an amazing event, learn more about dealing with anxiety, depression, procrastination, and more at www.FeelingGood.com.  Anyway, I said we'd look at the benefits of gratitude so that's what this week is about.

There are all kinds of blogs, articles, and studies on gratitude.  An article in Forbes lists 7 Scientifically Proven benefits including: Building social relationships, improving physical health, mental wellness,  enhances empathy and reduces aggression, helps with better sleep, improves self-esteem, and lastly improves mental strength. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2014/11/23/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-of-gratitude-that-will-motivate-you-to-give-thanks-year-round/#50d3eb92183c

Perhaps that last one is the most important benefit of gratitude, it improves mental strength, or one could say is a powerful coping skill. Don't get me wrong, we all want better relationships with those we love and who doesn't want to have great physical health. But, with our body systems so interconnected having the ability to cope with things life throws at us is one of the keys to not only happiness but also our health.

Counting my blessings has helped me cope with many stressors in my life from moderate irritations to full blown anxiety attacks.  While listing 10 things I'm grateful for didn't cure my intense anxiety, it did help me to calm down long enough to use the appropriate cognitive techniques (several listed in Dr. Burn's podcasts on itunes if you are interested).  When I have had IBS attacks, reciting things I am grateful for makes the time pass so much faster and it lessens the pain significantly.

What are some ways you use gratitude to cope? I'd love to hear from you.

One last thing I wanted to share, is something I am truly grateful for and that is.... drum roll.... people who are willing to agree to disagree.  Over the years, I've met some pretty mean people on the internet.  I'm sure in 'real life' they aren't as bad as online, but there is an awful lot of criticism out there. Whether you are trying to go plant based, just eat a few more veggies, or go all the way vegan it can be disheartening to have your mistakes plastered by others.  One blogger who is as kind hearted as she is determined to help save the planet and the critters on it is Tully Zander. She has some wonderful recipes that you will find absolutely delicious along with blog articles.  Check them out on her website: www.vegansfirst.com

When Crying Feels Good -- 5 Benefits To Tears

I once heard someone say crying is like a celebration of that which you've lost. That was such an amazing revelation to me. That's often exactly how I feel. Like I'm enjoying a piece of history.  Emotions are not as cut and dry as we'd like to think.  Life is fluid why should we expect our emotions to be static as if they are box in neat little packages.  Reality is our lives and our emotions are dynamic and integrated with each other.  We can be happy and cry, sad and laugh, or even bemused and angry, all at the same time.  Embracing this dichotomy is healthy.

Have you ever tried to avoid crying, holding it all back, distracting yourself to keep the tears in, only to feel an immense release once you allowed yourself the freedom to let it all out?   I know I have. In fact, I find from time to time I need a good cry. It's like a cathartic release of stress, grief, anxiety, and in that moment I actually feel good.

Did you know there are benefits to crying.  Here are five:1

• Part of healthy grieving
• Helps with emotional balance
• Restores body balance
• Improves mood
• It can dull pain

Crying is part of a healthy grieving process.  I already mentioned it's like a celebration of what you've lost.  That loss can be a person, job, dream, or even goal.  It can be part of life transitions for example your child who is now all grown up. These can be happy celebrations or real struggles. Granted we don't have to cry to grieve, each person has their own unique ways of dealing with loss, but often tears are a catharsis that is beneficial.

"'Crying activates the body in a healthy way,' says Stephen Sideroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at UCLA and director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics. 'Letting down one's guard and one's defenses and [crying] is a very positive, healthy thing. The same thing happens when you watch a movie and it touches you and you cry... That process of opening into yourself... it's like a lock and key'... Stress 'tightens muscles and heightens tension, so when you cry you release some of that,' Sideroff says. '[Crying] activates the parasympathetic nervous system and restores the body to a state of balance.'"2

Not only can crying work with the parasympathetic nervous system, but it can also trigger endorphins like oxytocin and opioids.  These chemicals produce a reaction in the body to produce a sense of calm and ease pain.1   This ability to dull pain might explain why children or even adults cry when injured.  Here you thought it was just to get sympathy.

So, the next time you feel a dampness around your eyes, don't hold back.  It's not only ok to express yourself, but it's healthy!

Next week we'll look at gratitude and the benefits of being thankful.

Sources:

1. “9 Benefits of Crying.” Healthline, Healthline Media, www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-crying. 

2. Govender, Serusha. “Is Crying Good for You?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/balance/features/is-crying-good-for-you#1.

Having a Bad Day, is Ok!

We all have days we want to just stay in bed.  Or days, where we can’t stay in bed, because of our minds are racing going over all the things we should have done, wish we could do, and so on.  Days that are just off, or days that are stressful, days were we worry too much.  Dr. David Burns states, “One minute of feeling upset is okay. Or an hour, a day, or a week. But I don’t want my patients to have to struggle with weeks, months, years or decades of misery.  I always tell my patients that we are all entitled to five happy days per week. If you aren’t having your five happy days, you need a little mental “tune-up! But if you’re having more than five happy days per week, that could be a problem,…” Blog post 2017-03-10, “Feeling Good” retrieved 2018-05-30 from: https://feelinggood.com/2017/03/10/is-it-possible-to-be-happy-all-the-time/

I had one of those days recently.  I am currently in a life transition and I find myself worrying about things I care about like friends and family who are struggling with life issues.  What if you listed all the good things about your sadness, stress, or anxiety? Like this: my worry about my friends and family says I care, I love them.  It reveals my thoughts are of them and I want what’s good for them.  It reminds me to make them a priority and not let life just float past.  These are all positive things and since my worry only lasts a day or two, I can accept and embrace it instead of being more anxious because I have a little worry in my life. 

Fear of fear, anxious of worry, frustrated about being angry. Worrying about negative feelings is a curse we all face at some point.  Maybe we recognize it, maybe we don’t.  Understanding that negative feelings are not all bad is a great step in finding true inner peace and happiness.  Struggles are part of life, and in fact, often make us better people.  They can remind us to look outside ourselves for a source of strength we can rely on, like spirituality.  For me that is a loving creator God.  What is your external strength? Can you rely on it?

Visit www.BodyMindHealthCoach.com and take our free course “Optimal Health” to learn more about the science of spirituality and how it affects your happiness, quality of life, and how long you live.

Good Mood Weather or Not!

The sun was shining yesterday, and as I soaked it in, I realized how much the weather affects our mood.  From Seasonal Affective Disorder to the grey day blues, we are often influenced by the world around us, even when we don't realize it.  So how can we combat the rainy day blues?

Before we talk about that, let's have a little look at the research to see if this phenomenon is even real or just a misperception. According to an article in Web MD, "If you feel down during a downpour, it’s not your imagination: Bad weather can indeed have a negative effect on your emotions. According to one study, nearly 9 percent of people fall into the “rain haters” category."1

A second article in PsychCentral confirms there maybe something to this. "There’s a fair amount of research in this area (more than the 3 or 4 studies mentioned in the blog), and I think the overall preponderance of evidence suggests that weather can have more than just a “little effect” on your mood." 2  This same author writes a follow up article stating there is evidence on weather and mood and how that actually affects us, IE: heat and crime, rain and depression, sunshine and good moods.3  Dr Mercola also shares some references about the way weather affects us as well as ways to combat it in this article: How the Weather Can Affect Your Mood.

Ok, there's at least there is enough evidence to suggest we look at it further, after all we know health is a complex and interconnected process.  So what can we do about it? First of all we can take advantage of good weather.  Don't put off that nature walk because you're too busy, because you can't control when the sun is shining.  I did NOT want to go out kayaking yesterday because I was so tired.  We had just spent several hours doing some brain activities combined with a drive home from town and all I wanted to do was sleep.  But my son, turning 18 soon, wanted to go and I have enough for site to know time with our kids is short, so I mustered up the effort to get in the truck after the guys loaded the boats and off we went.  Once I got out on the water in that beautiful sunshine my fatigue melted away.  That's not to say I was all of a sudden roaring around the lake, but the oppressive weight of tiredness was gone. 

We can also enjoy the good weather after it has passed.  Yup, even photos of gorgeous scenery can improve mood. The previous article from Dr Mercola.com states, "When photos of green spaces were seen after the math test, the parasympathetic nervous system was activated and lowered heart rates."4

So, take the time to take it in when the going is good and save those memories for a rainy day with well framed images of those pleasant moments.  To learn more about how you can improve your mood, lengthen your life, and enjoy better health through positive lifestyle choices, take our free course "Optimal Health" www.BodyMindHealthCoach.com 

Angela Poch

References:


1. Taylor, Julie. “Can Rainy Days Really Get You Down?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-rainy-days-really-get-you-down#1.

2. Grohol, J. (2008). Weather Can Change Your Mood. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 12, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/weather-can-change-your-mood/

3. Grohol, J. (2014). Can Weather Affect Your Mood?. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 12, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-weather-affect-your-mood/ 

4. Mercola.com, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/03/31/weather-affects-mood.aspx.